The Swiss family Robinson
trees. Ernest expressed his joy that he should now get much larger
and better cocoa-nuts than he had ever seen before. I, for my part,
was venting audibly my regret that I had not thought of bringing a
telescope that I knew was in the captain’s cabin, when Jack drew a
small one from his pocket, and with a look of triumph presented it to
me.
On applying it to my eye, I remarked that the shore before us had a
desert and savage aspect, but that towards the left the scene was
more agreeable; but when I attempted to steer in that direction, a
current carried me irresistibly towards the coast that was rocky and
barren. By and by we perceived a little opening between the rocks,
near the mouth of a creek, towards which all our geese and ducks
betook themselves; and I, relying on their sagacity, followed in
the same course. This opening formed a little bay; the water was
tranquil, and neither too deep nor too shallow to receive our boat. I
entered it, and cautiously put on shore to a spot where the coast was
about the same height above the water as our tubs, and where, at the
same time, there was a quantity sufficient to keep us afloat.
All that had life in the boat jumped eagerly on land. The dogs, who
had swum on shore, received us, as if appointed to do the honours
of the place, jumping round us with every demonstration of joy;
the geese kept up a loud cackling, to which the ducks, from their
broad yellow beaks, contributed a perpetual thorough bass; the cocks
and hens, which we had already set at liberty, clucked; the boys
chattering all at once, produced altogether an overpowering confusion
of sounds: to this was added the disagreeable scream of some penguins
and flamingoes, which we now perceived; the latter flying over our
heads, the others sitting on the points of the rocks at the entrance
to the bay.
The first thing we did on finding ourselves safe on _terra firma_,
was to fall on our knees, and return thanks to the Supreme Being,
who had preserved our lives, and to recommend ourselves with entire
resignation to the care of his paternal kindness.
We next employed our whole attention in unloading the boat. We looked
about for a convenient place to set up a tent under the shade of the
rocks; and having all consulted and agreed upon a place, we set to
work. We drove one of our poles firmly into a fissure of the rock;
this rested upon another pole, which was driven perpendicularly
into the ground, and formed the ridge of our tent. A frame for a
dwelling was thus made secure. We next threw some sail-cloth over
the ridge, and stretching it to a convenient distance on each side,
fastened its extremities to the ground with stakes. Lastly, I fixed
some tenter-hooks along the edge of one side of the sail-cloth in
front, that we might be able to enclose the entrance during night,
by hooking in the opposite edge. The chests of provisions, and other
heavy matters, we had left on the shore. The next thing was to desire
my sons to look about for grass and moss, to be spread and dried in
the sun, to serve us for beds. During this occupation, I erected near
the tent a kind of little kitchen. A few flat stones I found in the
bed of a fresh-water river, served for a hearth. I got a quantity of
dry branches: with the largest I made a small enclosure round it;
and with the little twigs, added to some of our turf, I made a brisk
cheering fire. We put some of the soup-cakes, with water, into our
iron pot, and placed it over the flame; and my wife, with my little
Francis for a scullion, took charge of preparing the dinner.
In the meanwhile, Fritz had been reloading the guns, with one of
which he had wandered along the side of the river. He had proposed to
Ernest to accompany him; but Ernest replied that he did not like a
rough, stony walk, and that he should go to the seashore. Jack took
the road towards a chain of rocks which jutted out into the sea, with
the intention of gathering some of the mussels which grew upon them.
My own occupation was now an endeavour to draw the two floating
casks on shore, but in which I could not succeed; for our place of
landing, though convenient enough for our machine, was too steep for
the cask. While I was looking about to find a more favourable spot,
I heard loud cries proceeding from a short distance, and recognized
the voice of my son Jack. I snatched my hatchet, and ran anxiously
to his assistance. I soon perceived him up to his knees in water in
a shallow, and that a large lobster had fastened its claws in his
leg. The poor boy screamed pitiably, and made useless efforts to
disengage himself. I jumped instantly into the water; and the enemy
was no sooner sensible of my approach, than he let go his hold, and
would have scampered out to sea, but that I indulged the fancy of a
little malice against him for the alarm he had caused us. I turned
quickly upon him, and took him up by the body, and carried him off,
followed by Jack, who shouted our triumph all the way. He begged me
at last to let him hold the animal in his own hand, that he might
himself present so fine a booty to his mother. Accordingly, having
observed how I held it to avoid the gripe, he laid his own hand upon
it in exactly the same manner; but scarcely had he grasped it, than
he received a violent blow on the face from the lobster’s tail, which
made him loose his hold, and the animal fell to the ground. Jack
again began to bawl out, while I could not refrain from laughing
heartily. In his rage he took up a stone, and killed the lobster with
a single blow.
Ernest, ever prompted by his savoury tooth, bawled out that the
lobster had better be put into the soup, which would give it an
excellent flavour: but this his mother opposed, observing, that we
must be more economical of our provisions than that, for the lobster
of itself would furnish a dinner for the whole family. I now left
them, and walked again to the scene of this adventure, and examined
the shallow: I then made another attempt upon my two casks, and at
length succeeded in getting them into it, and in fixing them there
securely on their bottoms.
On my return, I complimented Jack on his being the first to procure
an animal that might serve for subsistence.
“Ah; but _I_ have seen something too, that is good to eat,” said
Ernest; “and I should have got it if it had not been in the water, so
that I must have wetted my feet----”
“Oh, that is a famous story,” cried Jack: “I can tell you what he
saw,--some nasty mussels: why, I would not eat one of them for the
world.--Think of my lobster!”
“That is not true, Jack; for they were oysters, and not mussels, that
I saw: I am sure of it, for they stuck to the rock, and I know they
must be oysters.”
“Fortunate enough, my dainty gentleman,” interrupted I, addressing
myself to Ernest; “since you are so well acquainted with the place
where such food can be found, you will be so obliging as to return
and procure us some. In such a situation as ours, every member of the
family must be actively employed for the common good; and, above all,
none must be afraid of so trifling an inconvenience as wet feet.”
“I will do my best, with all my heart,” answered Ernest; “and at the
same time I will bring home some salt, of which I have seen immense
quantities in the holes of the rocks, where I have reason to suppose
it is dried by the sun. I tasted some of it, and it was excellent.”
He set off, and soon returned: what he brought had the appearance
of sea-salt, but was so mixed with earth and sand, that I was on
the point of throwing it away; but my wife prevented me, and by
dissolving, and afterwards filtering some of it through a piece of
muslin, we found it admirably fit for use.
“Why could we not have used some sea-water,” asked Jack, “instead of
having all this trouble?”
“So we might,” answered I, “if it had not a somewhat sickly taste.”
While I was speaking, my wife tasted the soup with a little stick
with which she had been stirring it, and pronounced that it was
all the better for the salt, and now quite ready. “But,” said she,
“Fritz is not come in. And then, how shall we manage to eat our soup
without spoons or dishes? Why did we not remember to bring some from
the ship?”--“Because, my dear, one cannot think of everything at
once. We shall be lucky if we have not forgotten even more important
things.”--“But, indeed,” said she, “this is a matter which cannot
easily be set to rights. How will it be possible for each of us to
raise this large boiling pot to his lips?”
I soon saw that my wife was right. We all cast our eyes upon the pot
with a sort of stupid perplexity, and looked a little like the fox in
the fable, when the stork desires him to help himself from a vessel
with a long neck. Silence was at length broken, by all bursting into
a hearty laugh at our want of every kind of utensil, and at the
thought of our own folly, in not recollecting that spoons and forks
were things of absolute necessity.
Ernest observed that if we could but get some of the nice cocoa-nuts
he often thought about, we might empty them, and use the pieces of
the shells for spoons.
“Yes, yes,” replied I; “_if we could but get_,--but we have them not;
and if wishing were to any purpose, I had as soon wish at once for a
dozen silver spoons; but, alas! of what use is wishing?”
“But at least,” said the boy, “we can use some oyster-shells for
spoons.”
“Why, this is well, Ernest,” said I, “and is what I call a useful
thought. Run then quickly for some of them.”
Jack ran first, and was up to his knees in the water before Ernest
could reach the place. Jack tore off the fish with eagerness, and
threw them to slothful Ernest, who put them into his handkerchief.
Fritz not having yet returned, his mother was beginning to be uneasy,
when we heard him shouting to us from a small distance, to which we
answered by similar sounds. In a few minutes he was among us, his
two hands behind him, and with a sort of would-be melancholy air,
which none of us could well understand.--“What have you brought?”
asked his brothers; “let us see your booty, and you shall see
ours.”--“Ah! I have unfortunately nothing.”--“What! nothing at all?”
said I.--“Nothing at all,” answered he. But now, on fixing my eye
upon him, I perceived a smile of proud success through his assumed
dissatisfaction. At the same instant Jack, having stolen behind him,
exclaimed, “A sucking pig! a sucking pig!” Fritz, finding his trick
discovered, now proudly displayed his prize, which I immediately
perceived, from the description I had read in different books of
travels, was an agouti, an animal common in that country, and not a
sucking pig, as the boys had supposed.
Fritz related that he had passed over to the other side of the
river. “Ah!” continued he, “it is quite another thing from this
place; the shore is low, and you can have no notion of the quantity
of casks, chests, and planks, and different sorts of things washed
there by the sea. Ought we not to go and try to obtain some of
these treasures?”--“We will consider of it soon,” answered I, “but
first we have to make our voyage to the vessel, and fetch away the
animals: at least you will all agree, that of the cow we are pretty
much in want.”--“If our biscuit were soaked in milk, it would not
be so hard,” observed our dainty Ernest.--“I must tell you too,”
continued Fritz, “that over on the other side there is as much
grass for pasturage as we can desire: and besides, a wood, in the
shade of which we could repose. Why then should we remain on this
barren desert side?”--“Patience,” replied I; “there is a time for
everything, friend Fritz: we shall not be without something to
undertake to-morrow, and even after to-morrow. But, above all, I am